1,000 jobs come to the Daventry district

A DEAL to build a new warehouse unit for Sainsbury’s will create 1,000 jobs for the Daventry district.

The supermarket giant has signed a contract with Prologis, owners of the DIRFT II site, near Crick to design a purpose-built unit which covers one million square feet.

The news has been welcomed by leaders in the area and comes in the same month that engineering firm Cummins, based in Daventry, announced they were cutting 98 jobs at its plant on the Royal Oak Way South.

Daventry District Council’s economic, regeneration and employment portfolio holder, Chris Over, said: “This is great news for the employment situation which, while it has been better than the national average, has suffered a blow.

“This is a boost for the area and I would hope the jobs are not just warehouse operatives but that there will also be management and planning positions available.”

He said he hoped further jobs would be created if the expansion of the DIRFT (Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal) site was given the go-ahead.

Cllr Over added: “If the expansion of DIRFT was approved then we would be looking at between 8,000 and 9,000 new jobs in total and that would be very welcome news for the district.

“This would be a great boost for the local economy.”

Prologis expects to start work on the warehouse on the DIRFT II site in early 2013 and is expected to be complete by autumn 2014.